Another Mother Mine
by HoodedSpellcaster
Summary: Lily Luna still hasn't closed the curtains. / Next Gen, Lily Luna centric, Sequel to "When There's No One Else"


QLFC Round 10 — Of Ghosts & Portraits

CHASER 3: Walburga Black (Portrait)

OPTIONAL PROMPTS: 3. (quote) 'Real, or not real?' - Peeta Mellark, Mockingjay / 7. (word) tree / 8. (image) . (paper flower)

A/N: This is a sequel to one of my oldest HP stories, "When There's No One Else", and though I suggest reading that first, these two stories can be read separately. Have I mentioned I adore Walburga Black as a character? No? Well, now I have. Thanks to Jordi for proofreading.

* * *

Lily Luna hums in thought, arranging and rearranging a vase full of paper flowers.

Number 12 Grimmauld Place is quiet, with only Lily and Kreacher permanently living there any more. Her father is the Head of the Auror Office and he's rarely at home because of his work, almost living at the Ministry instead. That used to bother Lily when she was younger, but she sort of got used to it in the end. Both of her brothers moved away last year—Albus to study abroad with Scorpius, and James to be closer to his work in Diagon Alley. Her mother travels the world with her old Quidditch team, even though she hasn't played in ages competitively. She calls Lily sometimes and Lily always answers.

Her family is still important to her, but she's somehow happy they're not around. Somehow all the pieces fell into the right places. She doesn't even hold a grudge, not any more at least, against Teddy for choosing Victoire instead of her, even after their one-night stand.

She had thought the heartbreak would destroy her, but she had been wrong. It made her stronger.

In the wooden cot sleeps her firstborn, a boy with a name of a star, a peaceful and quiet child. Teddy comes to see him whenever he can. He's sorry he can't be a permanent part of the child's life, not with Victoire pregnant with twins. Lily is happy for them. She doesn't want to break what they have built.

Lily has been reconstructing the Black family tree tapestry for months. She made sure that Teddy with his family were added to it, and that Sirius Black's burned image was restored. She had all the time to do so.

"It's a beautiful day, isn't it, Kreacher?" Lily asks the house-elf when she's finally satisfied with the flowers.

Kreacher stops dusting the chandelier. "Quite lovely," he says. "Does Mistress want to go out for lunch today? Shepherd's pie, perhaps?"

"Sounds wonderful, Kreacher," Lily says with a bright smile and with a quiet pop the old elf disappears from the tapestry room.

Lily picks up the baby from the cot. The baby yawns, but doesn't fully wake up. She leaves the tapestry room—the nursery nowadays—and keeps the baby close to her chest as she walks. She has moved an armchair to the narrow corridor where the painting of Walburga Black resides. Lily hasn't closed the curtains since she was left alone in the big house months ago. She likes seeing the old woman and she suspects the Black matriarch feels the same, even though she would never admit that.

Walburga Black greets the red-haired woman with a small nod. "Lily," she says simply, but there's a lot between the lines.

She has become more talkative lately and not just with mindless screaming and streams of insults. Her father and mother never liked the woman in the painting. They despised her for the person she had been when she was alive, even though they never knew her. They knew what they had heard from other people, but for Lily that was not a good enough reason to hate someone.

Walburga Black has been a part of her life since forever, being the background radiation that affects her life choices and makes her the person she is.

When she came home for the holidays during her third year and told her father she was being bullied, what did he do? Tell the professors, he said. Her mother—the famous user of "the Bat-Bogey Hex"—said the same.

Walburga instead taught her a few semi-illegal curses and they never dared to pick on her again. She helped her with her essays during the long summers. She told her what her parents and their friends talked about when the children were sent upstairs if she knew the right way to ask. She gave her advice whenever she was in need of it.

She encouraged her to keep the baby.

Lily sits down, the baby is fully awake now.

"He must be hungry," Walburga says softly, gazing at the dark haired child.

"He always is," Lily laughs, guiding the baby to her uncovered breast. "When he doesn't sleep."

In the official papers the child doesn't have a father, no last name whatsoever. He isn't a Potter like Lily. He for sure isn't a Lupin like Teddy; that's something Lily couldn't ask from Teddy. Sometimes it's hard to see if anything is real, or not real, or nothing at all. The child is real, that's for sure. Lily pats the baby on the back, satisfied with the loud burp the boy lets out. Lily turns him around so he would face Walburga.

The baby looks at the painting, staring intently at the old woman and gurgling.

"Yes, Rigel. That's your Godmother," Lily says, and Walburga looks away from the mother and the child. Lily knows how to make her flustered, even if the paintings can't actually become embarrassed. Walburga Black has been a part of her life and if it's up to Lily, Walburga will be a part of her son's life as well, no matter what her parents and their friends think. True, Walburga might have not been the best mother to Sirius, but to Rigel she will be a best godmother Lily could ever ask for.

The boy is a member of the Black family through Teddy, Nymphadora, and Andromeda. His blood may not be pure in the eyes of Walburga, but with her approval Rigel might as well become the first new member with the name Black in the family line in decades.

"Lils, I'm home! Is there any beer in the fridge?"

Lily jolts at the voice of her brother James, who very well knows there is no beer, alerting the baby Rigel who starts crying like a fire alarm.

"SCUM! FILTH!" Walburga screams at James, her voice mixing with Rigel's wailing. "HOW DARE YOU ENTER THE HOUSE OF MY FOREFATHERS-!"

Lily groans. Sometimes she just hopes they both keep their screaming to a minimum, at least.


End file.
